Health claims dangerous for diabetics

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PROMOTIONAL materials for Xocai, which is marketed as a "healthy
chocolate" in Australia and four other countries, have wrongly
claimed it is safe for diabetics because it is sweetened with agave
nectar from cactus, the fine print on its head office website
reveals.

"This is an error," MXI Corp, based in Reno, Nevada has admitted
on its website. Instead, says the company, it is sweetened with 100
per cent "pure crystalline fructose", also known as "raw cane juice
crystals."

Other companies of MXI Corp's founders, Martin and Jeanette
Brooks have twice been caught in the past by the US Food and Drug
Administration mislabelling diet foods. A cookie had to be
withdrawn because false health claims were made for it and a
chocolate bar was found to be misbranded because it understated the
carbohydrate content and was not sugar free as advertised.

A Herald investigation has found discrepancies in claims about
Xocai's ingredients.

On his website MyDrChocolate.com which is linked from Australian
distributors' sites, Xocai medical advisor Steve Warren claims:"The
healthy chocolate drink is 100 per cent unprocessed cocoa with
minimal fat and no sugar. It is best for diabetics."

However, a contents panel for the drink in a leaflet which an
Australian distributor provided to this reporter shows that one
fluid ounce contains four grams of sugars and one gram of sugar
alcohol.

Marketing Xocai as "diabetic-friendly" could be dangerous for
people with diabetes who were tempted by the health claims into
eating more than they should, said Lesley Campbell, the director of
diabetes services at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital.

Because people with type II diabetes often have eating
disorders, including a tendency to binge eat, it was dangerous to
market Xocai as "diabetic friendly," while other health claims were
"a load of rubbish,' she said.

The Powerhouse Cookie contains 220 calories, with sugar, fat and
41 grams of carbohydrate making it risky for people who "loaded up"
by eating several without having enough insulin "on board".

"It's trying to blind with pseudo science They're trying
to say there is something special about antioxidants . To
claim that you could add antioxidants and then quantitate the
benefit of the antioxidants is absurd. They have never been shown
to do any good in an intervention trial," Professor Campbell
said.

A senior clinical dietitian for the same Diabetes Centre,
Melissa Armstrong, said that Xocai's promoters"use all the
strategies from the 'fad' diet people [claiming] it will fix
anything with little/no effort - and there is a mix of 'scientific
fact' to make it look fair dinkum."

"If you ate a lot of this I'm convinced your blood glucose
levels would rise and you certainly get plenty of calories."

Asked if he stood by the health claims, Mr Brooks said it was Dr
Warren and not his company that made them.

The Massachusetts-based Brunswick Laboratories has contacted MXI
Corp after being told by the Herald that some Australian and
American distributors have quoted its president, Jim Nichols as
stating that the Xocai drink is the most nutritional on the market,
with an ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) value three times
higher than any other antioxidant drink.

Mr Brooks said that he had asked one Xocai website owner to
remove the Brunswick references.

"We clearly understand that they are an independent testing
company and do not endorse any products submitted to them for
testing," he said.

However, the claims are still being used by other distributors,
the Herald has found.